Assessing somatic symptom burden: A psychometric comparison of the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and the Somatic Symptom Scale-8 (SSS-8)

The PHQ-15 and the SSS-8 showed similar reliability and validity but the comparability of severity classifications needs further evaluation in other populations. Until then we recommend the use of the previously established thresholds. Overall, the SSS-8 performed well as a short version of the PHQ-15 which makes it preferable for assessment in time restricted settings.